The South: Jim Crow and Its Afterlives

Reed, Adolph L. Jr.
Publisher:  Jacobin/Verso
Year Published:  2022
Resource Type:  Book
Cx Number:  CX24758

A memoir and historical account of growing up in the Jim Crow South.

Abstract: 
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Publisher's Description:

Famed for his political theory and commentary on class and race in American politics, Adolph Reed guides us through the quotidian contours of the Jim Crow south. In this memoir-come-history, we see America's apartheid system from the ground up, not just the legal framework or systems of power and interests but the way these systems structured day to day interaction.

As the living memory of Jim Crow fades, its laws and horrors--and its heroic defeat--will be remembered. This book reproduces in vivid detail that everyday realm in which the rules and ideological premises of Jim Crow came up against the practicalities of getting on with life, where formal precepts didn't provide useful guidance for behavior or interaction. Flowing seamlessly between memoir and historical argument, Reed maps the ways the segregationist order buttressed ruling class power, the processes that lead to its unravelling, and the enduring legacy that is still so evident today.

The South is more than a memoir or a history. Filled with analysis and fascinating firsthand accounts of the operation of the system that codified and enshrined racial inequality, this book is required reading for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of America's second peculiar institution.

Adolph Reed Jr. illuminates the multifaceted structures of the Jim Crow south, blending reflections from personal experience with incisive political critique. New from the Jacobin Series with Verso Books, this is more than just a memoir or a history, this book is a truly singular account of Jim Crow from one of America's most important and uncompromising political thinkers.

Subject Headings

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